Karolina Kauppi

Karolina Kauppi

Principal Researcher
Visiting address: Nobels väg 12a, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB Lichtenstein, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am a senior researcher (docent in neuroscience) with interest in
    neurogenetics related to cognitive aging and dementia, but also cognitive
    symptoms in psychotic diseases.

    I am also affiliated with Umeå University


    Member of the Young Academy of Sweden
    www.sverigesungaakademi.se/ledamoter.html

     

  • Training:
    PhD in physiology (on genetics, memory and brain functioning), Umeå
    University. 2013.
    MSc in Biomedicine, Umeå University 2009.
    *Postdoc: *
    Oslo University, 2013-2015
    University of California San Diego, 2015-2018

Research

  • I am currently working on a primary research project, funded by VR, Umeå
    University, and Karolinska Institutet, which focuses on the interplay between
    inherited risk factors and inflammatory factors in the development of
    cognitive impairment and dementia in aging.
    Normal aging is associated with changes in the brain that cause many
    cognitive abilities, such as memory, to decline in most people, but there is
    a large degree of individual variation! While some maintain very good
    cognitive ability in old age, others experience more severe declines. Both
    individual variations within the framework of normal aging and the risk of
    developing dementia, or pathological aging, have a significant genetic
    component with a complex inheritance pattern. The project aims to identify
    the mechanisms through which genes act and how they interact with other
    factors such as gender and environmental factors.
    In my research, I analyze data from the Betula project (Umeå University),
    where people's cognitive abilities, health, and brain structure have been
    followed for a long time, as well as from the Swedish Twin Registry at the
    Karolinska Institutet, and the international open database UK Biobank. In
    this project, I link genetic factors for Alzheimer's disease with results
    from cognitive tests, biomarkers for inflammation, and measures of brain
    structure and function that have been developed using functional magnetic
    resonance imaging.
    Increased understanding of the biological processes underlying how our brains
    age can be used to develop better drugs and treatments.
    I am also interested in psychiatric genetics and previous studies include
    work on the genetic relationship between schizophrenia and cognition.

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